I had to walk about a mile to the music area. The main pathway got dustier as the weekend passed (Nick Meador).

"Nitrous" is nitrous oxide distributed in balloons from large metal tanks. Nitrous probably sounds familiar because many people are exposed to it at the dentist office. But the dentist gives you a steady flow through a mask, not a sudden burst from a balloon. One afternoon in broad daylight, I saw a man suck the nitrous out of a balloon and immediately fall on his face in the middle of a cornfield road. His friend was there to pick him up, so I didn't feel too bad laughing at him. After all, he was an idiot for not waiting until he got back to his tent to inhale a substance that interrupts the signals between his brain and his muscles.

Marijuana sales aren't as common at a festival like Rothbury. You can find it, but it's probably going to be more expensive than it would be back at home. Plus, most smokers want to ensure the quality of a product they're going to spend that much money on. Whatever you do, don't listen to the middle-aged man offering "vanilla ganja icing" in a voice that too closely resembles Tommy Chong. His product will almost certainly let you down. Think about it. When was the last time this man was even near a stove, where he could have cooked the marijuana to extract the Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and mix it with vanilla icing? The reputation of ganja cookies, brownies, or icing at a festival suggests that you spend your money in more reliable ways.

There was also the occasional drug dealer who traveled to the rural music festival from an urban area. They were offering hard drugs that aren't as common with the live music crowd. These dealers were pretty easy to pick out by the way they advertised "yeyo." Hearing that word just makes me think of Al Pacino snorting a bunch of cocaine in Scarface. It's hard to believe that anyone would take a dealer seriously who shows up on a cornfield in Rothbury, Michigan using that term.

I didn't experiment with drugs at Rothbury, and to some extent I feel foolish and even a little ashamed. As many writers and journalists have realized throughout time, you can't grasp the entire essence of something without experiencing it for yourself. I was actually surprised at the consistent mention of drug use in mainstream newspapers. I thought they would have casually omitted it from reports.

I had a great time nonetheless, and actually enjoyed the artist line-up more than I was expecting. Festival organizers did a great job of inviting both bands who are dedicated to the original festival vision (i.e. - descendents of the Grateful Dead), and bands that will sell enough tickets for the festival to take place (i.e. - DMB). There was a universal sense that the bands booked at Rothbury were special, and both scheduled and surprise collaborations increased this sentiment.

All five members of the currently defunct String Cheese Incident were present in various side projects: EOTO, Kyle Hollingsworth Band, Panjea with Michael Kang, and Emmitt-Nershi Band. Primus rocked during a midnight set Friday night, after years when Les Claypool focused more on Oysterhead, the Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, and his solo project. Mike Gordon performed with Trey Anastasio for a miniature Phish reunion on Sunday afternoon. Also, Phish drummer Jon Fishman turned Colorado bluegrass band Yonder Mountain String Band into a five-piece on Friday afternoon.

Aside from the amazing music and weather, I also must acknowledge how easygoing and open-minded most of the people were. Everywhere I went at Rothbury felt like home. It certainly felt good to be a Michigan native at this kind of cultural event. It was probably the first time people traveled to Michigan for something other than the Cruisin' Woodward weekend in August, when automobile enthusiasts gather to flaunt their machines of destruction.

My neighbors in the campsite were pretty quiet. On one side were three guys from Wisconsin; on the other side was a mixed group of about eight from Texas. I didn't meet too many others, but I saw license plates from almost every state in the eastern U.S., mostly Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. I also saw a few from Nebraska and one from Alaska. It made me glad to see all these colorful plates, but it was also comforting to see a lot of Michigan plates. Since I knew few personally who would be attending the festival, I was worried that not enough Michiganders would take advantage of Rothbury.

The minimal police action was another testament to how well people acted. I heard that only about a dozen arrests occurred throughout the weekend, and that most were drug related. Those numbers sound entirely accurate to me. I'm not even sure if the 20 or 30 confiscated nitrous tanks involved arrests, or if that dozen were more serious offenses. I only saw one altercation; on Saturday afternoon, two guys almost got into a fight on the main pathway. Then an older man approached and yelled, "I'll kick my own ass before I let you guys fight each other!" That was pretty much the end of the quarrel.

Aside from Sherwood Forest, some of my favorite memories of the weekend are my time at Tripolee Domes and Ranch Stage, which were, in my mind, the two most spectacular venues. Late night on Saturday, I sat in one of the open-air metal domes (think of a big version of those old playground domes) and listened to DJ Harry, while someone in front of me swung flashing bulbs in the air. It was a true audio-visual experience, and it made me wish that Tripolee was a permanent venue where I could go unwind once a week.

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